would you mind if i ask you the steps you took , step by step , to install Mint 14 on your y580 ? the reason i ask is that i think i might have made a huge mistake ...i won an auction on ebay for a Lenovo y580 thinking i could simply install Mint on it via an install disc ( to replace my old Lenovo f41 which is running Mint 11 ...and which is dying / on the way out ) , but in reading some / many forum posts / threads , it seems it is next to impossible to install Mint on the Lenovo y580 , and even if one manages to install Mint , many things don't work or function properly. wondering now if i should seriously consider cancelling this ebay purchase as i just wanted a good newer replacement laptop that would easily install and run Mint. any advice & suggestions welcome as i must either move forward , or cancel this purchase right away. i cannot use windows , all my files & data are all in Mint. any help / advice truly appreciated , im in a pickle now

just in-case this may help someone else out , and since i was ...upon much asking of advice & researching , eventually quite successful , i thought i would detail my experience here ( note , this is essentially for those who are discarding Windows altogether , and will be setting up and running MINT 15 ONLY on a Lenovo y580 Laptop );firstly , since i like many others was having difficulties getting a Mint Olivia Live CD / DVD to boot on my new Lenovo y580 ( which was running Windows 7 ) , i wasted 4 dvds and none seem to work for whatever reason ...so this is what i ended up doing to finally get Mint 15 installed.First thing to do on a Lenovo y580 running Windows 7 or 8 is to make sure that you DO NOT have the battery saver engaged in the Windows / Lenovo Power Management settings ; this will create battery problems in Linux as this setting is part of the Lenovo utilities and once it is set it becomes impossible to re-set it once Linux Mint is installed , so make sure to turn off battery saver in Windows /Lenovo Power Management so that you can then completely charge the Lenovo y580 battery to a full 100 percent before installing Linux Mint.On my new Lenovo y580 using Windows 7 that came pre-installed , i downloaded the latest Mint 15 Olivia iso ( Cinnamon 64bit with all codecs ) onto the Windows 7 desktop. i inserted an empty 4gb USB Flash Drive ( formatted in Fat32 ) into the y580 , then ( still using Windows 7 ) , i downloaded and installed Unetbootin onto Windows 7. running Unetbootin ( followed these instructions : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxL68ewkdrw ) , i then burned/ copied a bootable Mint 15 onto the USB Flash Drive. then , i shut down y580 and removed the USB Flash Drive.Next ; i restarted the Lenovo y580 , and , since the Lenovo y580 has both a main HD & an mSata drive for HDD cache , i ran 'RapidTool.exe' located on the Lenovo partition in the 'drivers\RapidDrive\Tools\' folder. (you need to do this if your y580 system came pre-installed with an mSATA. This tool will separate your mSATA SSD from your HDD so that they will be seen as two separate disks). Turn off notebook.Then ( and this applies to swapping out / replacing the stock 1tb HDD & stock 32gb mSata ) , first un-plug & remove the battery of y580 , and then open bottom cover of Lenovo y580 by removing the two screws and sliding out the cover ( wear anti-static bracelet or touch a piece of metal to avoid any static charge when working inside the computer ). then , remove the stock mSata SSD ( sits alongside the stock HDD ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ7Oejv920I ) by unscrewing the very small single screw and gently pulling out the mSata SSD card. (this of course only applies if your notebook came with a pre-installed mSATA, as mine did).Next , install your new mSata SSD drive card ( in my case an Intel 256gb mSata )and make sure to put back the tiny single retainer screw that holds down the mSata ... it should sit flat once your replace the small screw after you have plugged the mSata card into the slot. Next ( this applies if you want , as i did , to install MINT 15 onto the mSata and to use as the main drive with OS ) , remove the stock 1tb HDD by removing 2 small retainer screws that hold the HDD caddy in place , then gently push the HDD away from it's leading contact edge where it is plugged in ( gently use / push a small screw-driver on the steel lip of the HDD caddy , you can see the small steel lip near front edge ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNi-die2GJs ) and , once the HDD is disengaged , completely remove / pull out the stock HDD from the laptop computer.Close up the Lenovo ; Put back the bottom cover on Lenovo y580 by sliding it back into place and replacing the two screws. Turn Laptop over in it's correct normal sitting position & open the lid , do not power on yet. Then plug the USB Flash Drive ( with Live MINT 15 on it ) back into Lenovo y580. > at this point , MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE ONLINE via LAN with an Ethernet cable plugged into the Laptop. Now , turn on notebook and go straight into BIOS ( by pressing F2 key once you see the Lenovo logo screen). Once in the BIOS, go to the Boot menu and disable UEFI. Save these settings in BIOS ( press F10 key ) , and reboot the laptop.Now , you should see the GRUB for Mint upon re-boot , or quite possibly you might even boot directly into the Live Mint desktop environment ( my Lenovo y580 booted into the GRUB first , and then i simply followed thru ; click Start Linux Mint , to go to the Live Mint environment ). if you do not get the same thing ( if you only get the Lenovo Logo Screen ) then chances are that you have to go into the boot selection menu by pressing F12 key ( upon seeing the Lenovo Logo screen ). If the Mint Live desktop environment doesn't show up upon re-boot , then power down the laptop , re-insert the USB Flash Drive ( make sure USB drive is seated properly in USB slot ) , make sure you are online via a plugged in Ethernet cable , then power the y580 Laptop back on , and press F12 on the logo screen. Make the appropriate selection in the Boot Selection Menu ( choose USB to boot from ) & save ( F10 ) , and the system should boot into MINT Live desktop environment from the USB Flash Drive. once there , you can begin the install of Linux Mint 15 by clicking on the icon " Install Mint ". Since there is only the mSata Drive installed now in the y580 , there is no need to choose the install disk , it will install there by default.Once you have done the complete Mint 15 install ( and all updates ) , you can ( as i did ) replace / install a storage drive into the now empty HDD bay inside the Lenovo y580 ( in my case i installed a Samsung SSD Pro 512gb ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNi-die2GJs ).Since my install of Linux Mint was done Oct 1 2013 , i think i was the beneficiary of the now updated Olivia Mint 15 Kernel as most everything absolutely seems to work right out of the box , and upon initial install even bluetooth & wifi works. i will update this post further once i have had a chance to test everything a bit more including the graphics cards. thanks to all who were so helpful and offered great advice on the details of this install described above ~ cheZ